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Our first top tip is to avoid cutting off the care labels
and tags. If you do this when you purchase your schoolwear you will not have
access to the individual care instructions particular to this garment. Many
children hate tags scratching around their neck which is why most our
schoolwear suppliers now affix care labels to the sides of garments.

1.Wash dark
colour schoolwearseparately. You
would think everyone knows this one but you still see people walking around with
whites that are clearly no longer white. In addition stronger colours fade.
Always wash like colours schoolwear with like colours where possible. We recommend
that you divide your wash up into three loads as a general rule. (Whites, Colours
and Darks). Always Wash whites with whites and if you use beaching agents or detergents
such as DAZ, Keep It White etc they should stay white.

2.Know your
detergents. Again it seems like such a basic requirement but you should
always read the back of the detergents and see what their composition is. You will
find many of them have bleaching agents in them which render them unsuitable
for dark colour washes. “Cheapest price”
or what is on special offer is not always best when it comes to choosing a
detergent. You must consider the total cost of the clothing you regularly wash.
If you have to replace school uniforms because of fading and bleaching you will
find that those special offer detergents cost a whole lot more than you
bargained for.

3.How much is enough. Nowadays most
detergents come in liquid or capsule pre set doses. Capsules are always best as
you do not vary the dose. If you use a washing liquid or a powder then it comes
with a measure. Please adhere to the recommended measures and resist the urge
to self prescribe the dose. Our schoolwear supplier, Deerpark, told us an
unusual story; they received reports of fading of knitwear in a certain radius
area. They tested the yarns and were satisfied that they were meeting their
high exacting standard. They next spoke to the parents in the area about howt hey
used to wash the garments and discovered that a new German discount store had
opened a branch in the local area. Parents had switched from the mainstream
brands to the German chains own brand washing detergents. Furthermore they
discovered that parents were of the opinion that because it was a cheaper washing
detergent they figured that it was not as strong as the main brands and as such
they were adding more detergent than the recommended amounts to the cycle and bleaching
the washes. Mystery solved!

4.Know what
you are washing. Not only do you have to consider the colours you are washing
you should also consider the material types, delicate, silks, cotton, wools,
synthetic etc. All washing machines
nowadays have programmes and cycles to suit most types of clothing. Study the
school uniform labels carefully. What material composition are they made up of?
Choose cycles that will wash the schoolwear according to its composition and
colour.

5.Wash Schoolwear
at the recommended temperature. Yet again another basic fact but very much
overlooked. It is well known that high temperatures will shrink items, especially
natural materials such as wool. If in doubt a 30 degree wash is always a safe
bet.

6.Remove washed
Schoolwear from washing machine immediately. When the cycle is finished you
should remove the wet items from the washing machine immediately. This will
avoid causing additional creasing. At this stage again you should pay attention
to the care instructions. If the item is wool, hanging it will cause it to
stretch. Your particular schoolwear garment care label will tell you exactly
how to dry it. E.g. fry flat, use a dryer.

7.Beware of
the Iron. Again your garment care label will detail the exact program or
material type you should iron at. Never iron anything without referring to this
information. Fortunately for us iron manufactures have developed new technology
that enables the Iorns to detect the material composition it is ironing and
then the iron automatically adjusts the temperature to suit. As this is a
relatively new feature most of us don’t have this so for now we will have to
read ironing care instructions and adjust setting manually. ~

That
concludes our 7 tips to prolong the life of your childs schoolwear. If you do
this then you should get 2-3 years out of your Children School uniforms so that
you can pass it on to the next chlild or donate to charity. While none of it
seems rocket science you would be surprised how many parents out there ignore
this simple common sense to their detriment.

Anthony Ryans & www.Shopschooluniforms.ie are delighed to announce the integration of its Schoolwear website with Facebook. You can now visit, peruse and purchase all of our Schoolwear and schooluniforms in Facebook from the Anthony Ryans Facebook Page. Shopping online has never been easier and now you don't even have to leave your Facebook account to [...]

Anthony Ryans is delighted to announce that it has become one of the official Stockists of the new Claregalway College School Uniform. Claregalway college is also known as Coláiste Bhaile Chláir, Claregalway. The school uniform is in stock already and available to purchase in store and online. The school is newly opened and is headed [...]

We are delighted to announce the launch of our new school Uniforms website online. In addition to buying top quality branded and crested clothing we also sell uncrested clothing. We have prducts to meet everyones budget. Need some advice with sizing? Check out our sizing guide or call us on 00353 91567061.